John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Reports from the United States show that electronic stability control reduces the risk of single-vehicle crashes by about 40 per cent and crashes of four-wheel-drive and sports utility vehicles by 67 per cent. These figures correspond to a very large number of lives saved and serious injuries avoided. Translating the 40 per cent reduction in single-vehicle crashes to the 2011 annual road toll of 1,291 people killed shows that up to 516 fewer people would have perished on our roads in that year.

Given that the average time of Australian vehicles on the road is 15 years, it will take time before the majority of vehicles have electronic stability control. Although the automotive industry introduced the technology in 1995, inaction by the Howard government delayed this important advance by as much as 16 years.

In the last few years, significant advances have led to the development of self-driven or autonomous vehicles that can safely manoeuvre in traffic. Mercedes Benz has announced that its 213 class will feature an autonomous driving system that uses cameras and radar to control the speed of the vehicle and the distance from the vehicle in front. As well, Audi announced plans to introduce an autonomous driving system dubbed 'traffic jam assistant' that will control vehicles at speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour. There is no doubt that this equipment will improve rapidly and trials conducted over hundreds of thousands of kilometres show that autonomous systems are as safe, if not safer, than many human drivers. Moreover, autonomous systems are not prone to road rage or hangovers, cannot get drunk or tired, and neither are they aggressive, stupid, careless or inexperienced. Even simple systems such as GPS based speed control or speed control systems that use cameras to observe road conditions are now relatively inexpensive and could be fitted to all vehicles, particularly older ones operated by younger drivers. A trial conducted by the former New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority found that the equipment was effective and practical. Of course, the present New South Wales Liberal-National party government has no intention of implementing a reform like this, given their laissez faire attitude towards other life and death matters like gun control. Ridiculously, Transport for New South Wales has labelled the technology 'a major risk to road users', as if the present situation is characterised by its safety. It is now apparent that the new autonomous vehicle technology makes possible a great reduction in road crash fatalities and injuries. Given the very considerable benefits, I believe that the autonomous system should be required to be fitted to all vehicles as rapidly as possible.